We're Havin' A Heat Wave
by AmyD and Suisan
Summary: You never think it'll happen to you or to someone you know ....
1. Chapter 1

We're Havin' a Heat Wave

By: Amy D & Suisan

For Numb3rCrunching

This story came about as inspiration from K8T. I hope all of you like it.

First, the disclaimer and then the thanks.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of characters in this story. They are the property of Scot Free Productions, Cheyrl Heutton and Nick Fallacci. Please don't sue me, I'm poor. The character of Dr. Elaine was created by and belongs to Suisan.

Rating: Mature. There be some "adult language" contained within the story.

Thanks: Many thanks to the following people. K8T for giving me the idea in the first place. Suisan for kicking my butt in getting it finished and helping greatly with the medical stuff. Antoinette and Beth for Beta Reading and Ely, also for beta reading.

Any comments, compliments, job offers, feel free to post here or PM me.

And now, I present to you...

* * *

**_We're Havin' a Heat Wave_**

A Numb3rs Story

By AmyD and Suisan

**Chapter One**

"DON!"

Colby was running before Don hit the ground, even if he wasn't aware of leaving the golf cart until he was already in motion. He cursed the fact that in spite of a burst of speed he poured into his legs, he wouldn't be able to catch Don before the senior agent hit the ground.

To Colby, it looked like Don was falling in slow motion, gracefully pitching over in the middle of the 14th fairway of the Angeles National Golf Course. He dropped to his knees next to Don and held his breath as he checked for a pulse. He started breathing again when he found it.

_What the…?_ Colby thought, checking Don over. It only took a couple of moments to diagnosis the problem. Heat stroke. Don's pulse was pounding, his skin was flushed, and on the hottest day on record, he wasn't sweating a drop. That was a great, big problem. The human body cooled off by sweating. If Don wasn't sweating, he was overheating and that could be fatal.

_How in the Hell did I miss this?_ Colby thought. _We had plenty of water; we haven't been out in the sun too much. _He looked back at the cart, then down at Don._ Hell, I've toted heavier guys in Afghanistan._ He draped one of Don's arms around his shoulders and climbed, slowly, to his feet.

"You need some help?" A male voice made Colby look up and almost fall over in shock. Climbing out of a golf cart was the reason he and Don were on the golf course in the first place. Steven Cooley, L.A.'s newest robber baron and a Tiger Woods wannabe.

He went to Don's other side, helping get Don back to the golf cart.

"He'll do better lying down." Colby said, Cooley nodded and the two men stretched Don out on the golf cart's seats.

"Daniel!" Cooley called over his shoulder. "Bring me a couple of bottles of water and some golf towels. Need a phone?" He asked Colby.

"No, I got one." Colby said, pulling his cell phone from his pocket, letting his thumb do the walking as he dialed 911

Cooley took his hat off and was fanning Don. "The club'll let an ambulance on the course, just tell him what hole we're on."

Colby nodded.

"Man, heat stroke is the worst." Cooley said.

Daniel, a twenty-something, appeared with bottles of water and towels in hand. After hanging up, Colby grabbed a bottle of water and a towel. Soaking the towel in the water, he lifted Don's head just enough to wrap the wet cloth around the older man's neck, then dumped the rest of the water on Don's wrists.

Don started and moaned as the water began to bring him around. "Wha…? What's happen'…" Don's voice slurred at the end of his question, another classic heat stroke symptom.

"Hey, man, what's your name?" Cooley asked Don.

"Eppes, Don Eppes"

Cooley nodded. "My name is Steven." Cooley looked over and up at his training partner, "Daniel, go get some more water."

Daniel nodded and loped back to the other golf cart.

Cooley took a moment to wipe the sweat from his face and said "I think I've got enough water for an army."

Colby nodded but said nothing, a gnawing fear starting up in the pit of his stomach. If anything happened to Don because of this case, he'd never be able to live with himself. _How could I explain it to Charlie, let alone Alan?_

When Daniel returned with some more bottles of water, he took the towel from around Don's neck, rewetted it and tucked it back in place. Cooley took another damp towel and used it to fan Don. Colby checked Don's pulse again, it was still pounding. Another tendril of fear snaked its way into the Colby's stomach but he pushed it aside.

_Don is not dying out on a golf course! Not from freakin' heat stroke! _

"Don't beat yourself up over this," Cooley said. "It happens even to seasoned pros. You're so eager to get out on the course that you forget." He opened another bottle of water and handed it to Colby. "Think he'll be able to drink this?"

"We can try." Colby replied. "Don? Come on, open your eyes and look at me."

"Don, we need you to drink some water," Cooley said.

Don's eyelids flickered open at the unfamiliar voice. "What…?" He looked up at Colby, confusion all over his face. "What's…what's…."

Colby handed the water bottle back to Cooley. "I'll hold him up, you get him to drink."

Cooley nodded. After a couple of tries, he actually got Don to swallow some of the water.

"Water's cold…." Don mumbled.

"That's a good thing," Colby told him. "You want the water cold. Drink some more."

The water wasn't cold, and both men knew it. It was lukewarm but to Don, in his overheated state, it would be like swallowing ice.

A course marshal showed up just then. He hopped from his cart and headed to the men, water in both hands. "Ambulance is almost here." he said. "I heard it coming up on my way out. Another marshal'll show them out here."

"Thanks," Colby replied.

"C'mon Don, a couple more sips." Cooley tilted the bottle up to pour the last of the water into Don's mouth.

Don swallowed and coughed and gasped for air.

In the distance, a siren could be heard.

"Hang on, boss," Colby mumbled. "It'll be okay. Just relax."

The ambulance roared up in a cloud of dust and noise, another course marshal hopping down from the cab. One of the medics took care of Don while the other one radioed stats and vitals to whatever hospital was closest. It wasn't until they were getting Don loaded up on a gurney and readied for transport that Colby was able to catch the paramedic and let him know, without Cooley hearing him, that Don was a FBI Agent. The medic nodded in understanding, secured the gurney in the back of the ambulance, closed the bay doors and pounded on the wall to let the driver know to go. A spray of fine dust and one flying, misplaced pinecone heralded the departure of the ambulance, and Granger looked down at his watch. Arrival to departure had covered seven minutes, but it had seemed far longer.

Colby looked after the disappearing vehicle and opened his cell phone to make another call.

"Megan? It's Colby. We've got a great big problem."

* * *

He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that being flat on his back with the sensation of moving at a fast pace couldn't be good. Just as he realized he couldn't see anything, a pinch and a prick on the back of his left hand made Don blink his eyes open. There was a huge blurry, blue colored form leaning over him, and beyond that blur was more blur, but white in color. The sound of a siren roared through the air, making his ears hurt.

"Hey!" Don tried to say, but the word didn't want to leave past his teeth.

"Mister Eppes, it's all right. You're in an ambulance on the way to Pacifica hospital. I'm Tommy, your paramedic, and what you just felt on your hand was me establishing an IV." Tommy, if that's who the man really was, patted him on the arm and turned away to grab a clear bag of some sort of fluid and gave it a squeeze.

"Whoa!" The pressure on the bag seemed to correlate with a sudden cold sensation running through his left arm.

"It's all right, Mister Eppes, that's just the saline hitting your bloodstream. You're severely dehydrated and we've got to get that taken care of, along with getting your temp lowered, that's why it feels so cold to you."

"'Gent Eppes." He was tired of hearing 'Mister Eppes' - that was his father's name, not his.

"Right, that's what Agent Granger told me. Guess you are starting to feel a little better, Agent Eppes." The blur known as Tommy reached up and stuck something into Don's ear. "Right, temp starting to drop, but not too fast. Karla! How much further to Pacifica?"

A disembodied voice drifted over the sound of the wailing siren. "ETA, 2 minutes."

Don watched as the Tommy blur leaned over to an awful orange colored cabinet on the wall and pulled something out that had a tail and seemed to be attached to the odd colored box. "Medic 248, Pacifica." The medic spoke into the hand holding the … whatever it was he'd grabbed.

"248, Pacifica, go ahead." A different voice from the first came through the siren soaked air.

"Pacifica, we're 2 out with a 36-year-old Caucasian male, apparent heat exhaustion victim. Pulse steady at 78, B/P at 120/80 and an aural temp reading of 104.2. Skin is dry and pale…" Don tuned out the medic's voice and tried to ignore the sudden fluttering sensation in his chest as well as the electronic beeping noise that seemed to be increasing in tempo. "Pacifica, change of status. The patient just started to throw arrhythmias…." Don welcomed the darkness that was slowly creeping back in on the edge of his vision.


	2. Chapter 2

Standard Disclaimers in Part One. Same Authors. Same Rating. Feedback Welcome!

**Chapter Two**

After high tailing it back to the Suburban and driving faster that he should have, Colby had gotten to the ER and dropped into the nearest available chair. The seat felt good, the air conditioning felt good, not moving felt good. He tilted his head against the wall; his worry for Don was foremost in his mind. He shut his eyes, running through a mental first aid book in his head. He had done what he could for Don and now, had to wait until someone came and told him that all would be well.

Then, and only then, would he be able to breathe again.

"Agent Granger?" A female voice made Colby open his eyes.

_That was quick. A little too quick_. A sick feeling took up residence in the pit of his stomach. What was he going to tell Alan and Charlie? He eyed the woman in the lab coat and raised his hand. "I'm Agent Granger."

The woman came over to Colby. "I'm Dr. Sekilli. I'm a resident in the E.R. Dr. Leporre is working on your partner right now, and he asked me to come out and see how you were doing."

_Is that all?_ He looked down at his grass-stained pants and rumpled, half-dry shirt. He looked back up at the doctor. "I've had better days."

"I would hope so. I'd like to check you out and make sure you're all right. Can you come with me?"

Colby nodded and climbed to his feet, following Dr. Sekilli into the E.R., wondering where Don was.

"He's over there." She pointed to a room with a closed door at the far end of the E.R.

Colby looked at her. How did she know what he was thinking? Her boss hadn't keeled over the golf course right in front of her! And why was the door closed?

"You didn't have to ask." Dr. Sekilli led him into a curtained off cubicle at the opposite end from Don and pointed at the gurney. "Have a seat. I'll be as quick as I can."

He settled on the gurney and let himself be poked and prodded.

After checking his vital signs, she said, "Your heart rate is a bit elevated and your temp is up about a degree, but considering where you've been and what you've been doing, I'm not surprised."

Colby nodded, his mind elsewhere.

"Any lightheadness?" She asked.

"No."

"Any headaches? Nausea, tightness in your chest?"

"Nope."

There came a bang and a clatter, much like someone dropping a tray of instruments and Colby could have sworn he heard Don yell. He moved to get up but Dr. Sekilli put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Agent Granger, you will only get in the way."

Colby shot her a glare that was completely missed. What Dr. Sekilli said was right but that didn't help at all. It didn't answer the one question burning in his mind. What was happening to Don?

She eyed Colby for a long moment, listened for any other unusual noises, then returned to her exam. "My suggestion to you is to go over to the cafeteria or the gift shop we've got here and get some Gatorade." She said, upon finishing a few moments later. "Somehow, I can't see you drinking an flavor of Pedilyte willingly."

Colby grimaced but nodded.

"It may taste terrible but it'll help you out, really."

"Okay." C'mon, let me out of here so I can go find out what's happening to my boss.

Dr. Sekilli showed Colby another way out of the E.R. "When Dr. Leporre is done, he'll come and talk to you."

Colby looked at her. Was this woman a mind-reader?

"You didn't have to ask." she said, repeating one of her earlier statements. Even though she didn't say anything more, clearly she was used to dealing with cops and knew how concerned and protective partners could be when one of them was down.

"Dr. Sekilli?" A male voice echoed from the E.R.

"Duty calls," she said and left Colby standing in the hall.

* * *

Though he couldn't, or rather wouldn't, open his eyes Don knew he was no longer moving inside the bright white blurry boxy contraption. But he couldn't identify any of the voices he heard other than 'Tommy' and nothing the supposed paramedic was saying made any damn sense.

"…the arrhythmias weren't your standard pre-MI, more like what I've seen before in young runners who pushed their bodies too far."

"A flutter rather than a vee-fib or vee-tach or pee-vee-cees?" A new older-sounding voice answered Tommy and the tone made Don want to snarl at the man.

"Yes, Doc."

"Okay, good. We've got him from here, Tommy. Michelle, get on the horn to the on-call cardiologist and get lab up here to draw blood for a cardio workup, just to hedge our bets."

"Right away, Doctor. Trauma Two is open for you." Another voice, a female one this time.

Don felt the surface under him jolt as it hit something, then the movement stopped. He had the sensation of being lifted, there was a joggle, then clammy and damn cold coverings were tossed over his body. A bright light, brighter than what he'd been sensing through his closed eyelids, seemed to focus on his face, forcing a groan out of his throat.

"Agent Eppes, are you awake?" Asked the older voice he now suspected belonged to a so-called doctor, or at least someone masquerading as one. "No response, Chris, where is my… ah, thank you. Agent Eppes, I need you to wake up and talk to me. Come on, don't make me use a pain-stimulus."

He didn't know what the hell the doctor was talking about, but he knew he wasn't about to open his eyes. He just wouldn't. Not with that damn bright light waiting on the other side of his blood red eyelids. Then again, it's amazing how fast a person's eyelids will fly open when someone jabs a knife in your bare foot.

"Oooow!"

"Good, neuro-functions respond well to light stimulus." The doctor, a carbon copy of Wyatt Earp right down to the handlebar mustache, dropped something shiny and silver looking on a tray to his right, somewhere behind Don's head, then turned back to look at him. At least, that's what Don assumed what was happening. He couldn't really tell - the man seemed to have the same sort of blurry edges 'Tommy' had had. "Agent Eppes, I'm Doctor Leporre, I am the Chief of Emergency Medicine here at Pacifica Hospital. You were brought here by ambulance after you collapsed at the LA National Golf Course."

_Golf course? Oh crap! Cooley!_ Don tried to move, to get up, but he couldn't seem to find the strength to do it. What in the hell were these people pumping into him and where the hell was Granger? A heavy hand landed on his shoulder and held him down, without much effort.

"Doctor, he's trying to get up."

"Chris, get another IV ready to go once Lab has drawn their samples. I want him on chilled normal saline and 5 dextrose, and run it full open. If he doesn't settle, give him a very light dose of Valium, but let's try to avoid sedation if we can. Also, call down to Central Supply and see if they have a cooling blanket available or can get one to us in a hurry."

Ignoring the hand on his shoulder, Don tried to get up again, only to find more pressure applied and his strength totally nonexistent. "Oowt o' 'ere."

"Agent Eppes, you're not getting out of here until you're back to normal. If you behave and play nice with the nursing staff, that might be in six to seven hours. More if your labs come back and I don't like the results." The lanky man in the white coat over a neon-lime green shirt stood up and leaned over to look into Don's eyes. "Do you understand me, Agent Eppes?"

"Noo…yesssss." Damn, why couldn't he talk right? Had he somehow hit his head, or were the drugs they were pumping into him affecting his mouth?

"Good. I'll be back in just a few minutes; I want to check on--" What he wanted to check on, Don didn't hear over the abrupt eruption of ear shattering noise. Finally, whatever had been holding him back let up just enough to allow him to get halfway off the table, tangling his legs up in something and wrapping something slick around his throat. Ungentle hands and arms enveloped his upper body and unceremoniously plopped him back onto the cold table he'd just nearly managed to leave.

"That's it!" Dr. Leporre snapped. "5cc's of valium and, Chris, make sure someone is in here with him at all times."

"Yes, Doctor. Okay, Agent Eppes, I need you to lay here like a good boy and stay put, all right?" The warm voice belonged to a woman, of that Don was sure, but when he looked at her … damn! It was like looking at Major Houlihan, from the movie, not the TV series - but with the body of Hawkeye Pierce - from the series. No wonder he hadn't been able to get off the table!

All the strength he'd found earlier evaporated away like so much mist, and Don knew the chances of him leaving on his own any time soon was gone. So he started to make plans to bide his time and conserve his strength … until Chris, the Hawkeye bodied look-a-like of Major Houlihan from the movie came back and, with sure efficiency, slipped a little something into the IV line the paramedic had started and … and…

What was he thinking about again?


	3. Chapter 3

Standard Disclaimers in Part One. Same Writers. Same Rating. Feedback welcome!

**Chapter Three**

_It just never gets any easier_. FBI Special Agent Megan Reeves thought as she walked down a hallway at Cal Sci on her way to tell Charlie, Don's younger brother, what had happened. A person might think that after a few years of telling people that something horrible had happened to a loved one, the actual telling part would get easier, but it didn't. It was different this time, too. Charlie wasn't somebody she'd meet today, destroy his life, then leave. She knew Charlie, she liked Charlie. She hated to upset him but he had to be told. If for no other reason then worst case scenario. Should something else happened to Don, God forbid.

She turned down the final hallway leading to Charlie's office. She had tried calling him on his cell phone but had gotten no answer. He was probably several blackboards deep into one equation or another. That was okay, though. She hadn't really wanted to break the bad news over the phone. She reached his office and peered in. Sure enough, he was standing at a chalkboard, headphones on, scribbling furiously, totally oblivious to the world

She walked in and stood in Charlie's line of sight, which was the most effective way of getting his attention. Tapping him on the shoulder or calling his name did absolutely no good.

It worked. He saw her and stopped writing. He put the chalk down and took off the headphones. "Megan, hi. If you're looking for Larry, he's not here." He frowned for a moment. "I don't know where he is."

"Existentially or physically?" she asked, gently teasing him.

"Both." he replied.

"That's all right. I'm here to talk to you."

"Oh?" Charlie frowned again, thinking, then his face cleared. "You came from the source algorithm that Don was asking about." He turned from the chalkboard and went over to a table halfway between his desk and the chalkboard.

_Here's goes nothing._ She ignored the tightening in her stomach and started to speak "Um….Charlie…."

He looked up from the table, sheaf of papers in hand. "You're not here for the algorithm?"

She shook her head.

"Then why…." His voice trailed off as understanding dawned on him. "Oh My God." He sank on the table. "What happened? What happened to Don? It's got to be bad or you wouldn't be here. Was he shot? Stabbed? Run over? All three?" He got up from the table and started to pace. "Dad's out of town and I don't remember the name of the family doctor. What am I going to tell Dad when he comes back? Oh, Lord, what am I going to do?"

Megan stepped into his path and took him by the arms. "Charlie, listen to me. Are you listening?"

He looked at her and nodded.

"According to Colby, Don collapsed on a golf course, probably from heat stroke."

"Heat stroke?" Charlie looked Megan, confusion writ large on his face.

She gave him a brief smile. "Not as bad as being shot but still pretty nasty."

Charlie blinked and swallowed. "Where is he?"

"Pacifica Industrial Hospital in Sun Valley. Colby is with him and I'm going to drive you there. Understand?"

He gulped and nodded.

It was only then that Megan noticed that Charlie was shaking and, her terrible news notwithstanding, he looked like he had slept in his clothes.

_Some trained observer you are, Reeves_. She thought.

"When was the last time you ate?" Megan asked him.

"Um….last night, I think?" he said.

She nodded. Typical. "And did you teach class today looking like you do?"

"He tried but the T.A. kicked him out. Something about scaring the masses?" A new voice, a female voice, joined the conversation.

Megan looked beyond Charlie and saw Dr. Amita Ramanujan come in, a stack of Blue Book answer books in one hand. Amita was not only a former student of Charlie's, she was also his girlfriend.

"I can see why." Megan replied, letting go of Charlie.

"Hey! I'm right here." He protested.

Amita made her way past the both of them and dropped the test books on his desk. "You've got a couple of missing books but I wouldn't worry about it. If your students want to fail, let them." She turned around and opened her mouth to say something but closed it when she saw the look on Charlie's face.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

Megan filled her in, finishing with "That's why I'm here, to drive him down there."

Amita nodded and said, "I'll get a T.A. to cover the rest of his classes. Don't worry about them."

"Thank you, Amita." Megan said, grateful that she didn't have to calm down two mathematicians. "Come on, Charlie, if we get started now, we might miss some of that lovely traffic on the 205." She eyed him critically. "I'm stopping on the way and getting you something to eat, traffic be damned."

"Thanks, Amita, I owe you one." Charlie said, following Megan from the room.

"Give Don my best!" Amita shouted after them.

* * *

"I don't know how you do it, Charlie." Megan said, as they walked back to her car. "Not eating more than once every few days."

"It's not like I do it intentionally." Charlie replied. "I just forget. You don't have to stop and get me anything, I'm fine."

Megan stopped and looked at him, her expression plainly saying Yeah, right, I believe you. "We can either stop on the way or you can eat that wonderful hospital food, take your pick."

Charlie saw the determined look on Megan's face and knew he'd lost the fight. He sighed, defeated for the moment. "Stop somewhere." He muttered.

"Good choice." Megan said. She would never tell him but she half-way considered Charlie the little brother she never had and she would sooner let Larry have at with her service weapon then let her 'little brother' not eat because he was upset.

Charlie frowned. "I don't know how you can expect me to eat at a time like this. Don could be…." He did not finish his thought.

When they reached the car, Megan unlocked the passenger side door and said "Don will be all right, you'll see."

"From your mouth to God's ears." He muttered as he climbed into the car.

* * *

Colby had been allowed to hang out in the hallway outside Trauma Room 2 with the understanding that when an ambulance appeared, he was to disappear. So, he stood there, watching the passing parade of doctors and nurses, wondering what on Earth he was going to tell Charlie, taking the occasional drink from the Gatorade bottle in his hand.

_How did this stuff ever get to be a world-wide seller? It is so…_

"Agent Granger?" A nurse poked her head out of the room.

Colby looked around. "Yes, ma'am?"

One of the nurses he'd seen going in and out of Don's treatment room was sticking her head out and motioned for him to come over.

"Agent, I usually wouldn't ask this of a non-staff, non-medical person but I need help and, apparently the desk to too busy to answer a call sign--" She shook her head,

"Never mind me. Could you step in here and stay with your partner for a few minutes?"

Colby nodded. If he saw Don, he would actually have something to tell Charlie. "Anything I need to do or watch out for?"

He stepped past her into the room and, not for the first time, noticed how unlike himself Don looked. He'd never seen the senior agent so still, even when Don was just thinking, he was moving. Now he was lying flat on his back, covered from neck to toes in rather odd looking blankets and his head resting on a pillow that looked as if it were filled with blue gel.

_Probably is gel, chilled to help get his temperature down to normal._

"Nothing too strenuous. If you could just stay by him, make sure he doesn't undo the IV lines or dislodge the cooling blankets, I'll just nip down to the tube station and pick up the latest chilled solutions for your boss."

He nodded again, then shot a final question at her before she could leave the room. "What should I do if he wakes up before you get back?"

"Talk to him." She said and she was gone.

Colby looked after her and decided he didn't like the grin that crossed the woman's face, it was … condescending.

He turned his attention back to the room's occupant, and moved a little closer to the side of Don's bed. "Yeah, right. Talk to my boss… I can do that." He pushed the worry that threatened to take over way down deep in his stomach.

Don would be fine. He would. He had to be.

* * *

His hearing clearing up, finally, Don could actually discern words being spoken instead of the low, humming rumble that seemed to have taken the place of his understanding of English.

"… If you could just stay by him, make sure he doesn't undo the IV lines or dislodge the cooling blankets, I'll just nip down to the tube station and pick up the latest chilled solutions for your boss." That sounded like Chris … the nurse he'd dubbed Hawkeye Houlihan in his mind … but who could she be talking to?

"What should I do if he wakes up before you get back?"

_Granger? About damn time, where have you been? _

"Talk to him." Chris replied. There was a sudden rise in background noise and then just as sudden a decline, leaving Don to assume that a door had shut somewhere between him and whatever was causing the noise.

"Yeah, right. Talk to my boss. I can do that."

Don tried not to chuckle at the tone of Granger's voice -- the Army-hardened Special Agent sounded like he was terrified to even be in the same room with his 'boss' and that, Don knew, wasn't the truth but he must have let loose a giggle, for Granger was instantly by his side, a firm hand on his shoulder and a calm timbre taking over the younger man's voice.

"Don? You awake?"

Don opened his eyes and blinked. But damn if it wasn't bright where ever he was. He blinked again and saw Colby standing over him, concern all over the younger agents face. "Yeah, my'be." He struggled to sit up for a few seconds, then gave up. He had no strength whatsoever. "Shit. W'as rong wit' me?"

"I don't think sitting up is a good idea just yet, Boss." Colby said, keeping his hand on Don's shoulder, earning himself a glare from Don.

_And where the Hell were you when they shooting me full of…of…whatever the __**hell**__ they've got me on? _

"As for what's wrong…" Colby ignored the glare. "You collapsed on the 14th hole. Heat stroke. Thank you Army Combat First Aid Training."

Don closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. "Cov'r? Cool-ee?" His brain, apparently, had turned to mush and he couldn't remember a thing before Wyatt Earp jabbed something into his foot. But if he had done what Granger said he had done, then there was a better than 90 chance that his collapse caused their, admittedly thin, cover, just two men out to play a round of golf, to be totally blown.

"I don't think it's blown completely, Boss. He did help me, along with his training partner of the day, get you somewhat comfortable and cooled off before the ambulance arrived, but I made damn sure he didn't hear me ID you to the paramedic as a FBI agent."

"Good." At last, something was going right. Don relaxed, probably for the first time since waking up in this freaking place. Their case against Cooley was, at best, circumstantial, so, they needed to keep the Tiger-Woods-Wannabe under close surveillance while Charlie, Amita and the FBI's own Forensic accountants looked over his financials.

"We might even be able to use your little dramatic faint to our advantage…" That earned Colby another glare.

Had Granger really just say he, Don Eppes - Special Supervisory Agent Extraordinaire - had fainted? No way. "…We should be able to use the excuse of you wanting to thank him to get into his office when it comes time to arrest the sonovabitch."

Before Don could form the words to respond, Hawkeye Houlihan walked back into the room. "All righty now. Thank you for watching him for me, Agent Granger, I managed to get everything I need to keep your boss comfortable."

Don watched as Colby nodded and started to walk back out of the room, but stopped with the nurse interrupted his progress. "Oh! There's a woman and a younger man out there looking for you and my patient, Agent. I think I heard her call him 'Charlie' and I'm pretty sure she's packing."

Don let out a moan, the last thing he needed was Charlie worried about him.

Colby stepped back over to the side of his bed, "Sorry, Don, I know you wanted Charlie to keep working on the stuff for us, but he had a right to know. Just in case."

Don nodded. "Yeah, yu'r riht. A'leass it's not, Da."

Colby snickered. "True. Okay, let me get out of here and I'll go update…" He didn't get too far before the door to the room flew open and whacked him in the shoulder.

Don winced as the door smacked his agent. _What the Hell…?_

"Oops! Sorry about that, you okay? Ah, I see you are, good. Now go, so I can talk to this patient and tell him what a bonehead he was." A woman spun Granger about and gently propelled him out the door. "There ya go, now stay out for a while."

The newest arrival in the room was tall, fiercely redheaded and seemed to move at lightning speeds. Don wasn't sure she'd be able to come to a complete stop before hitting his bed but was thankful when she did, he didn't have the strength to help her up. She dropped into a chair he hadn't seen.

"Chris, be a doll and split, would you?" She asked the nurse. "Agent Eppes and I need to have a serious talk about stress levels, caffeine and what they can do to his heart when he abuses his body like he did today."

"Yes, Doctor Wal--" Hawkeye Houlihan stopped when the redheaded Doctor glared at her. "Yes, ma'am. Do you need me to bring his EKG readings in?"

The doctor shook her head and lifted a chart from her lap, "Got'em right here. Now, shoo!"

_You're leaving me alone with this nut? _Don wanted to shout at Hawkeye Houlihan but he didn't. He couldn't. He just watched her go. As the nurse pulled open the door, Don spotted Colby hanging around on the other side and knew the younger man would pump the nurse for information about the strange woman now in the room with his boss.

"Let me introduce myself, Agent Eppes." The doctor said. "I am Doctor Elaine Donovan-Walker and you caused me to be called in on my day off. So I'm here to tell you why, from a Cardiologist's point of view, heat stroke and caffeine intake like yours are not 'good things' to do to a human heart. You can call me Elaine for ease of conversation."


	4. Chapter 4

Standard Disclaimers in Part One. Same Writers. Same Rating. Feedback welcome!

**Chapter Four**

After being not so gently ejected from the room, Colby stayed outside and waited. He knew Megan and Charlie were looking for him but he was not about to abandon Don to the tender mercies of some doctor whose name he didn't even know! The door opened and the nurse came out.

"Ma'am?" Colby asked.

"Yes, Agent Granger, what can I do for you?" the nurse said.

"Who is that in there with my boss?" He eyed the name badge the nurse was wearing.

"That's the on-call Cardiologist, Dr. Donovan-Walker. Dr. Leporre called her in." The nurse, Chris, replied.

_Cardiologist? For heat stroke?_

"After working on your boss, the doctor felt that calling her was necessary." Chris answered the unspoken question.

"How long is she going to be in there?" Colby asked.

"I can't answer that, Agent Granger but when she's done, she'll come and find you."

Colby frowned, wracking his brain for any other questions he could ask. _I need something I can tell Charlie!_

Chris looked him up and down. "Agent Granger, there's not much else I can tell you. You'll have to wait until Dr. Donovan-Walker has finished her exam."

He nodded, feeling totally helpless but knowing that the nurse was right.

"I'll be down the hall if you need anything."

Colby nodded. "Thanks."

She smiled, nodded in return and left Colby to his thoughts but he wasn't alone for very long.

"Colby!"

He looked to his left and saw Megan coming down the hall towards him with Charlie trailing in her wake.

"Hey." He said, in way of greeting. _And here we go_.

"What's the latest?" Megan asked.

Colby looked at Charlie then Megan before responding. Charlie looked like he was about to climb out of his skin. Megan didn't look much better. Traffic must have been a real bear on the 205. He sneaked a peek at his watch. It had been four hours since he'd called her. Yeah, must have been a fun trip.

"Have you seen him?" Charlie asked, interrupting Colby before he could speak.

"Yeah, for a couple of minutes before I got kicked out by the cardiologist. He looks a whole lot better now than he did on the golf course."

"Cardiologist!?" Charlie wailed. "What's a cardiologist doing in there if it's just heat stroke?!" He turned accusing eyes toward Megan, who held up her hands in surrender.

"Thank you very much, Granger. Three hours of trying to calm him down right out the window." Megan snapped.

"I've been having a pretty crappy day myself, Reeves, so back off." Colby growled. Okay, so maybe he shouldn't have told Charlie about the cardiologist just yet but he had to learn sooner or later.

Megan blinked and swallowed and said "Sorry. Three hours in a car with a panicking Charlie has addled my brain. I know you did your best."

Colby gave her a half-smile in response. _I certainly hope so._

"How long has the doctor been in there? What's he doing in there? What's going on?" Charlie asked, his voice verging on panic.

"She hasn't been in there that long. She was called in by the ER doctor who saw Don first." Colby replied. Oh, boy, it's a good thing that Don can't see this.

"So, you're saying it's no big deal?" Charlie snapped.

Colby opened his mouth to say something unkind but thought better of it and closed his mouth. Charlie was on the verge of losing it completely and wasn't thinking rationally. No sense in snarling back at him.

"Charlie…" Megan started to say but Colby cut her off.

"I haven't had lunch yet." He said to Charlie. "I reckon you haven't either." He gave Charlie the once over. "I'm also guessing you didn't have breakfast or dinner last night. Why don't we both go and get something to eat."

Charlie frowned. "What about the doctor? What happens when he comes out and I'm not here?"

"He's a _she_." Colby corrected him.

"I'll be here." Megan said. "You need to eat."

Charlie's frown deepened. "You're just trying to get rid of me."

A look passed across Megan's features and had Colby looking for a place to hide. "Charlie, you haven't anything to eat in over twenty-four hours. Your brother will be royally ticked to find that, once again, his brother couldn't be bothered to eat. Do you really want him to learn that right now?"

Charlie shook his head, eyes wide.

"You're going to go with Colby and get something to eat." She eyed Colby. "Something substantial. When the doctor comes out, I will talk with her, find out what happened and tell you every last word. Until then, you're leaving. Got it?"

Charlie nodded again, shocked into silence.

Colby eyed Megan, then Charlie. To the best of his knowledge, Charlie had never been on the receiving end of a Megan Reeves butt-chewing. He swallowed the smile that threatened to take over his face and led Charlie back down the hall. "C'mon, I was in the cafeteria earlier and the food didn't look half bad."

Megan watched them go, then shook her head._ Jesus, what the Hell did I just do_?

The door next to Megan opened just then, making her jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. A woman with fiery red hair and a white lab coat came sailing out.

"Agent Granger?" she called out, looking up and down the hall.

"I work with Agent Granger." Megan said, coming over to the woman. I'm Agent Megan Reeves."

The woman's eyebrows went up. "You work with Agent Eppes?"

Megan nodded.

"Ah, there's hope for him yet. I'm Dr. Donovan-Walker, the on-call cardiologist. I came out to give Agent Granger an update on Agent Eppes condition."

"Wait. Why did the ER doctor call in a cardiologist for a heat stroke victim?" Megan asked. She had meant what she said to Charlie. She would find out every detail of what had happened to Don.

"On the way in, the paramedic noticed a slight heart flutter, nothing major or threatening, but curious. Agent Eppes also threw a second set of odd rhythms once he was here and hooked up to our monitors. Doctor Leporre - the Doc Holiday Wannabe over there in the neon green golf shirt - decided that those fluctuations were just enough to call in the on-call cardiologist - myself - and now that I've gone over Agent Eppes with a fine tooth comb ... I'm glad he did."

"And?" Megan asked the obviously leading question.

"And Agent Eppes can have visitors for a couple of minutes." Dr. Donovan-Walker completely ignored the lead. "I'll be back to talk to him later. Go right on in." She pointed at the door, and then went on down the hall.

Megan stared after her, wondering what rabbit hole she'd fallen down before pushing open the door and going in to see Don.

* * *

Elaine was, Don found out, one pissed off Cardiologist. However, the more they talked - or rather she talked, he still wasn't making much sense with his brain all drug-fuzzed - the more he came to realize that Doctor Elaine wasn't mad at him. She seemed to be peeved at the Doctor who'd made the decision to have her called in on her first day off in months that corresponded with her husband's day off. 

"It's not like Doctor Leporre couldn't look at your readings and realize that I wasn't needed, no… He just had to frack-up my day off just to get-- Never mind. Let's talk about what the hell you were thinking by not properly hydrating before heading out onto a golf course during what has got to be one of the earliest heat-waves we've seen in So. Cal. in over 15 years, Agent Eppes."

"I didn't realize I was going…" Was all Don got out before Elaine lit into him again.

"Didn't realize?! Agent Eppes, Don…I've seen your damn blood panels and you were packed up to your former gills with caffeine residues."

"Doc?" Don asked, suddenly realizing what he truly needed to do.

"Even if you weren't expecting to hit a golf course today, you know - or should know - that good ol' plain water is the BEST way to keep a body hydrated and that you need at least 36 ounces a day for proper function."

"Doc?"

"Yes?" Don was happy he'd finally gotten her attention.

"You might want to leave for a few minutes and point me in the right direction for the nearest bathroom?" He was happy that, in spite of having to talk slower than usual, he was able to enunciate his need so clearly. Of course, how he would able to get to the bathroom when he couldn't even sit up…well, he'd work on that one in a moment.

"Bathroom? Don…Well, I guess Chris didn't get a chance to tell you and 'Wyatt Earp' wouldn't think about it…You only _think_ you have to piddle."

_What_? "No, I'm pretty sure I do."

Elaine raised a manicured hand to her mouth and shook her head. "You already are, Agent Eppes."

"Huh?" He lay there, trying to figure out what the Doctor was hinting at, when he recalled waking up one afternoon in the Alba-Turkey hospital after being rushed into emergency surgery to remove his nearly ruptured appendix. He lifted up the sheet and cooling blanket, took a peek, then dropped the covers back. "That is so not right!"

A flush crept up into his cheeks.

"But a necessary evil, Don. We have to closely monitor your intake and output after forcibly rehydrating your body. Kidney damage is rare in heat exhaustion, but not totally unheard of." She moved to where she could better see the screens on the various monitors around his bed. "Interesting, your heart rate jumped a bit when you realized you were cath'ed, but it's dropped right back down to a normal rhythm." Don got a taste of her shampoo when a strand of her long, new penny copper colored hair brushed across his face, then he was treated with the most intense green-gray gaze he'd ever been nailed with. "You are fairly active, physically, right?"

"Not as much as I used to be." He tried to ignore the warmth of her hand as it wrapped round his wrist, obstentively taking his pulse, even though she could see the beats on the heart monitor.

"Shows. Your cardio-rhythm is pretty strong and steady for a man your age and in a supervisory position. Usually the higher the rank or the more responsibilities, the more out of shape the cop becomes." Her hand moved from his wrist to clasp his hand.

"Know a lot of cops, Doc?"

"A few." She gave his hand a fast squeeze, then placed it back on the bed and picked up his medical chart. "Okay, let's get the rest of the unpleasantries over with so I can be ready to leave when my husband finishes the exciting errand I sent him on when he dropped me off here."

"Unpleasantries?"

"The Talk. I give it to all my patients. Even the ones I'm pretty sure I'll never see again in a professional capacity." She made a few more notes in his chart, then dropped it onto the counter behind her and launched into what was - clearly - a well-memorized spiel. "Caffeine is a naturally occurring diuretic, that means it makes you need to pee, and is why coffees and teas are not the recommended drinks of choice for rehydrating the body when one is outside in weather like we've been having. It also wouldn't hurt you, from a medical point of view, to cut back on your caffeine intake in general."

Don made a noise of protest and Elaine raised her hands in mock-surrender. "I know, I know…separating a cop from his coffee mug is like trying to separate him from his sidearm. _It. Just. Isn't. Done_. How about you try alternating with decaf teas or ice water with lemon once in a while?" She reached over and tapped another monitor. "Okay, you're finally down to 42 degrees Celsius, about 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and it only took," She looked at her watch. "Three hours. I'm pretty sure your partner will want to talk to you again now that you're a bit more coherent and while the two of you are talking, I'll see what I can do about getting you sent up to Telemetry or ICU."

"What? I thought I'd go home once I was okay." He stared at her. Was she suggesting what he thought she was suggesting? That he be stuck overnight in this place?

"That's just it, Don. You're not 'okay' and while I don't see a need to send you up to Cardio-Intensive Care, I do want to monitor you overnight and then talk to you in the morning to see about setting up a cardio-stress test in the near future."

She blazed out of the room, leaving Don totally confused. From the way she'd been talking and acting, he thought for sure he'd be able to leave once his temp was back down to around normal… but now she really was considering admitting him over night and having him take cardiac tests! In spite of the added chill, he pulled the sheet up around his shoulders and cursed at the long-gone woman under his breath.

He peeked back toward the door when he heard the noise level abruptly rise, then fall again, indicating someone - probably the nurse - had come into the room after Doctor Elaine had left. He was surprised to see not the nurse but Megan standing there.

Don wasn't able to see what he looked like, but he thought there was a good chance that he felt, and looked, better than Megan did at the moment. The woman, usually so cool and collected, appeared haggard, frazzled and more than ready to shoot someone. He tried to prop himself up on an elbow, sighing in frustration when the muscles of his arm started to shake, and abandoned trying to sit up just as Megan approached his bedside.

"Something tells me you're not supposed to be sitting up just yet, Don." She told him. She came around behind him and adjusted the strange feeling, and oddly squishy pillow behind his head.

"Probably not, but Doctor Elaine didn't say I couldn't…" He replied.

"But your body isn't up for the task, is it?" She asked.

Don glared at her, resenting that he couldn't look her directly in the eyes but that was impossible at the moment, he couldn't even sit up.

"Fine, I won't ask that question again." She replied. "Charlie's here, I sent him and Colby down to the cafeteria before his blood sugar dropped too low."

Don smiled, immediately understanding what Reeves was alluding to. "Forgot to eat again, huh?"

Megan nodded. "Claimed he ate last night - maybe - but on the drive down here, he couldn't tell me a single thing he might have eaten."

Don watched Megan pull over the chair Doctor Elaine had vacated and sank into it.

"Traffic that bad coming up from Pasadena?"

"No…yes…well, no more than usual during evening rush." She pushed a long lock of her hair out of her face and tucked most of it behind her left ear as she let out a long drawn-out sigh.

Don, concerned, reached out and touched her shoulder, being careful not to bounce or otherwise jostle his IV site. "Reeves, what's wrong?"

The smile she shot him wasn't her usual nothing wrong here expression, but it seemed to Don that she was trying to convince him of that. He wasn't buying it and schooled his face to show her exactly that.

She sighed again. "Fine…if you must know, your brother is a major pain in the ass when he's worried, panicking and stuck in traffic while his blood sugars drops like a meteor through the atmosphere." She waved toward the door of his treatment room, "And then, just as I finally get him calmed down…Granger has to spout off that you're being seen by a cardiologist, which totally undid all the calming and soothing I did with Charlie on the way here." She waved a hand to emphasize her last statement.

"Charlie…." Don moved, with firm intent this time, to get off the bed, only to be restrained by Megan, who was still sitting down. _Damnit Reeves, let go of me_!

"Don, you're not going anywhere. Charlie is fine. Granger's with him with strict orders from me to make sure he eats before they come back here. Now, before that happens, what did your 'Doctor Elaine' say and why was a cardiologist in here in the first place?"

He shrugged. "I'm not real sure. I mean she said she was called in by Doctor Leporre and she had a copy of my EKG readings and…" Don let his words trail off, hoping Megan would take the hint.

"And what, Don?" She didn't.

"She's wanting to set up some tests for me." He muttered, happy that Megan couldn't look him in the eyes. A glance is all she would need to tell exactly what he was thinking.

"That makes sense." He made a noise of protest but Megan raised her hand. "No, wait a minute, listen to me before you yell…you're a Supervisory Agent, you have a stressful job and your heart just about got cooked inside your own body. You're a coffee addict. You're on the downhill slide to the Big Four-Oh…I'm sure Doc Elaine just wants to double check everything before issuing you a clean bill of health."

Don scowled. "That's pretty much what she said."

"So don't you think it might be a good thing to listen to the doctor and let her do whatever she needs to do so you can tell Alan you're really okay after he gets home from his conference in Vegas?"

Don's eyes widened. Above all else, his father could not know what had happened. Don would never hear the end of it, if he did. "You wouldn't tell him, would you?"

"No, not intentionally…but you know how things tend to slip in front of him and, let's be honest here, do you honestly think Charlie's going to be able to sit on something this big without saying anything to your father?"

Don shook his head. Alan didn't interact much with the various members of his team, but when he did, he, automatically, seemed to slip into surrogate father mode and none of his agents could keep Alan's Guilt Trips at bay. Especially if he thought they knew something he needed to know about either one of his sons.

"I am so screwed."


	5. Chapter 5

Standard Disclaimers in Part One. Same Writers. Same Rating. Feedback welcome!

**Chapter Five**

Charlie peered through the door into the room. Colby had tried to prepare him, by accurately describing the way his older brother would appear, but there were no words that could've prepared him for this. Don looked…shrunken. His eyes were closed, but Charlie could discern Don's head moving ever so slightly, like he was mentally organizing the report he'd eventually have to write up about this event.

"Don?" He called out, quietly, in case his brother was actually drifting off to sleep.

Don's eyes popped open and a wry smile crossed dried out lips. "Hey, Chuck," came the subdued reply.

"Don't call me Chuck." Charlie said, walking into the room. Somehow, even with Don lying in a hospital bed, he couldn't allow Don to get away with the despised nickname.

"Sorry…Megan said you--" Don started to reach out toward him, but Charlie stepped backward, out of reach, instantly on the defense.

"Megan said what? That I was a raving basket case? That was I scared out of mind?! That I was about..."

"Charlie!" Don slapped the bed, grabbing Charlie's attention. "I'm fine! I'm okay, all right?"

"NO! You're not all right! Look at yourself!!" Charlie matched Don's peevish tone with one that sounded, to his ears, more waspish.

"Okay, fine...I'm not all right...but I will be. And what I was going to say was that Megan said she sent you down to eat with Colby...was it any good?" Don asked.

"I've had worse." Charlie grudgingly replied. He took a good, long look at his older brother and could just feel his stomach clench in fear. He'd rarely seen Don look so worn down. _What am I going to tell Dad_? "The food's okay." He repeated himself.

"That's reassuring. Since it looks like I may have to stay here overnight."

"Good. Someone else can keep up with you for a change." Charlie muttered, not meaning for his brother to hear, but he had forgotten about Don's excellent auditory skills.

"Hey!" Don snapped.

"Don't 'hey' me!" Charlie snapped back. "Damn, Don, I swear -- there are times when I think you pull crap like this intentionally." He immediately regretted saying that and added a verbal addendum. "Although I don't know why you would."

"Crap? Charlie, I didn't want this to happen, it just did." Don took a moment to adjust the pillow under his head. Then another small, ironic grin crossed his lips. "At least it was just heat exhaustion and not a bullet to the chest."

"Well, thank God for small favors." Charlie wasn't sure what upset him more, Don's words or his attitude. _Does he have to be so damn cocky_? "I'm sure that'll make Dad feel ever so much better when he finds out."

"He's in Las Vegas all weekend, remember? By the time he gets back, I'll be back home in my apartment and this will all be a very bad memory." Don replied, his tone reminding Charlie of every little incident when they were in High School together and Don somehow convinced his baby brother to cover for him when he would slip out of the house to meet friends after curfew. "There's no reason to tell Dad about any of this."

"No reason?!" Charlie spat out. "Oh, so if you had been shot, you'd have no problem with me telling him?" He started to pace, his emotions beginning to roil around inside him.

"If I'd been shot, I'm pretty sure the Bureau or Megan would've told him before they told you." Don calmly responded.

Charlie's frenetic pacing came to a crashing halt. "You just have answer for everything, don't you?" He faced Don, his arms crossed over his chest, his right foot starting to tap on the floor.

"No."

"Maybe if you had been paying a little more attention to what was going on inside of you, we wouldn't be here." Charlie snarled.

"Pot Calling Kettle! Look who's talking, Mister-I-Don't-Remember-To-Eat." Don shot back.

"I'm not the one flat on his back in hospital because he almost cooked himself on a golf course!" Charlie spat back at him. "And you have NEVER been pulled away from a case because I forgot to eat!"

"It's not like I planned this shit, Charlie! If I had known I was going to be out in this damn heat wave I would've been more careful about prepping myself! And you're wrong..."

"About what?"

"I HAVE been pulled away from a case because I focused too hard and didn't eat."

Charlie gave Don a you're-missing-my-point look.

"You don't believe me." Don said. "Fine, I'll see if I can get in touch with Cooper and have him tell you about the case."

"Oh, I believe you," Charlie said. "What I was saying was you've never been pulled away from a case because I forget to eat. Not you. You know, it's a damn good thing I've got tenure. They can't fire me." He'd never hinted at this before, but there were times when Charlie resented Don's interference in his life - especially when he was in the middle of a mathematical conundrum he was working on for himself or anyone other than the FBI.

The two glared at each other for a few long moments and Charlie thought about leaving but decided against it. _I didn't just spend the past three hours in a car just so I could yell at my brother when he pissed me off._

Don cleared his throat and, quietly, got Charlie's attention. "Buddy, let's face it... we both are known for focusing too hard on what gets under our skins."

"Yeah, so?" Charlie replied, not sure where this new line of thought was going.

"Where do you think we get it from?" Don smiled, trying to lighten the mood of the room. "Remember how upset Dad would get if we bugged him while he was working on crossword puzzles?"

Charlie scowled. He knew what Don was trying to do and he didn't want to go along with it but he also didn't want to leave just yet. "Your point?" He said.

* * *

Before Don could respond, Nurse Hawkeye came into the room. "What are you two doing in here!? Wrecking our work?" Don flinched as she turned her gaze from him onto his younger brother, "Tell me, are you intentionally trying to kill your brother?"

Charlie's mouth hung open in surprise.

"It's just a little brotherly verbal--" Don started to respond in an effort to defend his brother.

"I don't care. I thought you were trying to go home this evening." The nurse said to Don, before switching her baleful gaze from him to Charlie. "Behave yourself or you're out of here and I'll do the kicking. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Charlie said

"Hmmph. You two remind me of my own brothers...behave or else, got it?" After checking to see that the monitors were still connected to Don's chest, she left without another word.

"That's the first real emotion I've seen in Hawkeye." Don admitted, a small amount of sheer awe creping past his guard.

Charlie pointed after the woman. "Who was that?"

"I haven't caught her full name, Chris something, but I've been calling her Nurse Hawkeye Houlihan in my mind." Don divulged.

"Why?" Charlie asked.

"Not real sure... I just think of her that way. I mean, look at her." Don gestured at his face, "Looks like Hot Lips from the movie, but has the body of Alan Alda?"

Charlie looked at the door, a very thoughtful expression on his face. "I never saw the movie but Alan Alda, I'll give you."

"Trust me, Chris looks like Sally Kellerman. And you should see the original movie...it's one of Donald Sutherland's better efforts. Though Dad will wonder when I saw it."

Charlie stared at Don, an eyebrow creeping up his forehead. "What kind of drugs do they have you on?"

Don shrugged. "Hey, I was a kid when the movie came out...of course, Dad didn't know I watched Blazing Saddles from the back of the car at the drive-in one summer either."

"What were you doing in the car...wait, you are not going to get me off on another subject." Charlie shook his head then moved back to where Don could observe him. "I'm still pissed."

"Yeah, I can see that. Now what's stuck in your craw? You still think I did this as some unconscious bid for attention?" Don gestured to the IV stand on his right.

"No, I don't give you that much credit. That would require more fore planning than you seem capable of. Had you actually stopped to think, you wouldn't have keeled over on the golf course."

"I was just doing my job, Charlie. I hadn't planned on going out on the course, I had just stopped by to check on Granger - who was sitting on Cooley - when the man pulled his Tiger Wannabe Stunt and Granger needed a partner on the links or we would've lost surveillance." Don said.

"And when you drop dead, I'll make sure to put that on your tombstone." Charlie retorted. "What? Neither of you had any water? You couldn't leave Colby alone for a couple more minutes to get some? You couldn't have caught up with the guy on the course?"

"We had water, we bought some at the club house and on the course...it just wasn't enough, I guess."

"Ya think?" Charlie replied, sarcasm dripping in every syllable. "Why did Colby need a partner? He can't play golf by himself?"

"National has a rule. Couples or groups of four only. No singletons." Don replied. "And we couldn't put Granger in Cooley's grouping...we didn't have that kind warrant."

Charlie frowned, confused. "You need a warrant to play golf?"

"No, but you need one to do anything beyond watch someone play golf. We couldn't, legally, do anything that even remotely resembled auditory surveillance. Colby goes into National on his own, looking to play a round, and gets stuck with Cooley. Anything he overhears is inadmissible in court." Don explained.

"Oh." Charlie said. "Well, what was this guy doing before you two headed out on the course? Was he at the driving range? Was it really that spur of the moment? Where the hell was he going to go? It wasn't like he was going to run away and hide was it?" There were still things about FBI investigations that made no sense to him.

"Speaking of court...how's your fishing expedition through his books going?" Don asked, as if he'd suddenly recalled a question he'd wanted to ask for a while.

"It would go faster if I didn't have to stop and come down to see my brother in the hospital." Charlie replied.

"Low blow, Chuckleberry, low blow." Don shot back with the one name Charlie never, ever let anyone get away with.

"You know what?" Charlie snapped at Don. "You can stew here by yourself. You're in one piece, you're not dead. I'm happy." He turned and walked out of the room.

"Chuck! Charlie!" Don called after him, but Charlie kept walking, forcing himself to ignore the wail of the monitors in the room he'd just left.


	6. Chapter 6

Standard Disclaimers in Part One. Same Writers. Same Rating. Feedback welcome!

**Chapter Six**

Both Megan and Colby had spent far too much time in a multitude of emergency rooms not to know what certain sounds meant. So, it was with great surprise that they watched Charlie stalk out of Trauma Bay #2 with the wail of alarms following in his wake. The two agents exchanged looks before Megan jumped from her chair and headed across the waiting room to stop Charlie before he got out the door; The wailing alarms, mercifully, came to a halt as abruptly as they had started.

"Charlie?" Megan called after him. "Charlie!"

Charlie ignored her, single minded in his determination to leave.

"Charlie Eppes!" She yelled, in her best FBI instructor voice.

That stopped him. The tone in her voice brought Charlie to sharp halt just feet from the ER Entrance/Exit. He turned and glared at Megan, then Colby. "What?" he growled.

Megan involuntarily took a step back. She had never seen Charlie as mad as he was at that moment.

"What do you want?!" he said.

"I want to know what went on in there. You go in and everything's quiet." Megan said. "You come out two minutes later, looking like the wrath of God with alarms going off. What the hell?"

"My brother is what happened." Charlie said. "Oh, he's fine or he'll be fine. No thanks to himself. One of these days, he's going to run out of chances. I just hope I'm not there to see it."

"Charlie, I…" Megan started to say.

"Oh, just fuck off, both of you." Charlie turned back around and disappeared out the door.

Megan and Colby looked at each other again. Colby, eyes wide, said "That's a definite first for me. I've never been cussed at by a mathematician before."

"Neither have I." Megan said. "What on Earth went on in there?" She looked back at Trauma Bay #2. "Go track Charlie down and keep an eye on him, from a safe distance." She said to Colby. "I'm going to see if they'll let me in to see Don. See if I can't calm him down."

Colby nodded and headed out the door after Charlie.

* * *

The number of bodies trying to push into his room after Charlie stormed out, cleared Don's hearing of an odd buzzing noise and he finally heard the noise of the machines screaming for attention. Bewildered, Don gave almost no resistance when Nurse Hawkeye pushed him flat on the bed, pulled open his hospital gown and then yelled at the others in the room. "No Code! No Code!" It was only then that he spotted another member of the ER staff pushing a huge rolling toolbox into the room with…_Oh shit. Was that…_?

He tried not to jump when Hawkeye's hands went rummaging about in his loose gown, but took offense when she slapped something back onto his chest. "Hey! That smarted!"

"Just be glad I thought to look before the Crash Team here zapped you with the defibulator." She covered his chest again with the gown, then pulled the cooling blankets back up over his shoulders and was chasing the others out of the room when Doctor Elaine came barreling into the room.

"Chris? What the hell happened? I heard the code called over the intercom."

"False alarm, Doctor. Agent Eppes here apparently didn't heed my warning earlier and, after having his B/P spike, managed to pull one of his EKG leads off in an attempt to catch up with his brother."

"Warning?" Dr. Elaine asked. Don felt heat rise up his neck into his cheeks. "Chris, what would you need to warn Agent Eppes about?"

"Wasn't so much him as his brother. They were verbally sparring with each other and his blood pressure started to rise, so I warned them to cool it or I kick the brother out."

"Oh, really?" Don did not like the tone of Elaine's voice, it boded ill for Charlie.

"Doc, he's just upset with me. He didn't mean anything by it." Don tried to explain but Elaine wasn't buying it.

"I'll be the judge of that. Chris, get me the Cardio readings from the times Agent Eppes here has had visitors so I can compare them." She turned her attention back to Don. "If I see something I don't like, I'm going to add another day to your hospital stay and limit who can and cannot visit you while you're in the Telemetry Unit." Before he could say anything, she was gone in a flash of copper and white and a flurry of clicks as her heels struck the linoleum flooring.

Don sighed. He had to calm the Doctor down or she'd ban Charlie from visiting him. "Chris?" Don called out to the nurse who was quietly coaxing printouts from the machines arrayed around him.

"Yes?"

"I don't want my brother barred from seeing me. I know he can be a great big pain in the ass but with our father out of town, he's my only family member."

Nurse Hawkeye came around the bed to where he could see her. "You're not married?" He shook his head. "Shame. All right. I'll tell Doc Walker you don't want your only visitors to be cops but you have lie here and behave." She left the room.

A few seconds later, Megan popped her head in. "Couldn't go too long between bouts of adrenaline rush, could'ja?" She said, in way of a greeting.

Don waved her in. "Where's Charlie? How did he look when the team came rushing in here?" He was worried that Charlie was slowly turning into a basket case out in the lobby, or was hovering just outside his room, worried that he wouldn't be allowed back in.

Megan took her time before answering. It was time to see how diplomatic she could be. "Don, Charlie didn't even bat an eye when they rushed in here. In fact, he cussed at Colby and I when we asked him what happened and stomped out the door."

He let out a sigh. "Damn. Megan, I can't chase him down to talk to him, and if Doctor Elaine thinks he's a danger to my health, she'll ban him from visiting me."

"What caused him to be so pissed in the first place?"

"Uh…well, that's kind of a long story."

She crossed her arms. "And you're going somewhere?"

Don sighed. Megan had a right to know, especially as he was going to have to ask her to play big sister to Charlie who, right at this moment, seemed to despise his own older brother. "Charlie and I have always been able to crawl under each other's skins, even as kids, but I think this goes deeper than our usual spats."

Megan nodded, "That I get, but what do you think it is that triggered his anger this time around?"

Knowing that Megan was the youngest child of four, Don thought she had a better chance to relate to Charlie, once he explained a few things. "You remember how he was when Larry got the NASA chance?" She nodded, a graceful smile crossing her face that told Don volumes about how her life was going now that the Physicist/Cosmologist was back on earth. "He's got issues with people leaving, issues that I think go back further than our mom's death…"

Megan listened quietly as he explained how things were in the Eppes house long before Margaret Eppes found out she had cancer and before he'd joined the Fugitive Recovery Squad. It wasn't pretty and if he hadn't already talked to William Bradford, the F.B.I. psychologist, about it, Don wouldn't have been able to tell Megan. She never interrupted, she didn't even take notes, but the way she listened told him she was actively listening and making mental notes. He only hoped that she'd be able to get through to Charlie; that he, Don, really understood why Charlie was so mad and that, as much as he could prevent it, he wasn't planning on going anywhere, anytime soon.

* * *

Charlie turned around and saw the last person he ever expected to see. "Lt. Walker?"

"I realize you've never seen me out of uniform, Eppes, but ... yeah, this is me." Walker stared at Charlie, his eyes squinting in the dim light. "Okay, who pissed in your Wheaties and do I need to go talk to them?"

Charlie crossed his arms and scowled. "My brother."

"Don? Okay, that explains your mood...but what are you doing here?"

"Cause's he's here! He nearly dropped dead on a golf course because of heat stroke but it's no big deal!" Charlie flung his arms up in the air.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Charlie...Don's here?"

"Yeah."

"_Here_," Lt. Walker pointed at the ground, "not at the morgue?"

"I wouldn't be out here if he were in the morgue. I'd be on the phone, trying to tell my father."

"Actually, Professor, that would probably best left for one of his team members to do or even his boss. At least he's alive, even if he tried to cook himself from the inside out."

Charlie's scowl deepened. "That's almost exactly what he said. What is it WITH you people? He almost dies and no one seems too particularly upset except me!"

"Sounds to me like you're the one with the problem, Professor. Don's alive, a little scorched, but alive...so it's really not a bad way to end a day."

"So I should just accept the fact that he could have died but didn't and be happy about it?"

"Yeah. Barring that, just stay out here and burn off that excess pissiness before you say something to your brother or someone else that you'll regret." Walker said.

Charlie swallowed. "Too late."

The automatic door on the ER opened and Walker looked beyond Charlie to see who had triggered it. "Uh, who ordered a angry redhead?"

Charlie looked back at the ER door and sighed. "That would probably be me."

Lt. Walker shook his head. "Professor, remember this; Never piss off a redhead...I see Agent Reeves, I'm going to go talk to her, she might be needed later for an investigation...Good luck and don't be afraid to duck if you need to!" Walker gave the fast approaching woman a tight nod as he passed her, leaving Charlie to face the woman alone.

"What the HELL did you think you were doing!?!" The woman roared up to Charlie and stood there, glaring at him.

Charlie looked at the woman. "Who are you?"

"Your brother's Cardiologist. You DO realize your little visit with him sent his blood pressure into the atmosphere and he nearly had a gawddamn heart attack?"

Charlie blinked. "Uh…" he stammered.

"Right, you were too damn wrapped up in your own problems to hear the damn monitors going off when you left the room! What the hell kind of brother are you?! Do you WANT to kill him?"

Charlie frowned. "He seems to be doing pretty well on that all by himself."

Elaine stepped back from him, surprise radiating from her. "Oh, I get it...you've never been '_stupid_' and suffered from heat stroke or heat exhaustion? You would rather he be in there, maybe fighting for _his life_ on the surgery table as some Trauma Surgeon digs _slugs _out of his body because his vest _failed_?"

Charlie swallowed, at a loss for words. Whoever this woman was, she didn't need to make him sound so terrible.

"Well?" The woman demanded.

"No." He finally managed.

"Oh, so you are compassionate after all. Good. Now, are you the only blood relative here I can talk to or should I wait for a parent or wife?"

"Yes, I'm the only blood relative. He has no wife and our father is out of town."

"Fine. Let's try this again...Now that I'm a little calmer." The woman pulled her hand out of her lab coat pocket and held it out toward Charlie. "I'm Doctor Elaine Donovan-Walker. As I said earlier, I'm the cardiologist handling your brother until he's discharged from Pacifica."

Charlie held his hand out and shook Dr. Donovan-Walker's hand.

"I'm Dr. Charlie Eppes, that's a Ph.D. by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Doctor Eppes. Now, let me tell you why the attending thought it prudent to call in a cardiologist for your toasty, but not overcooked, brother." She guided him over to a bench a dozen feet away from the entrance to the Emergency Room. "Do you have any idea how serious heat stroke or exhaustion can be?"

"I hear the warnings on the news."

"Ah, but those warnings don't go into details. Do you want to hear those or should I just gloss things over?"

Despite his fear and anger at Don and everyone else connected with the mess Don had gotten himself into, Charlie was starting to like Dr. Donovan-Walker. "Just gloss things over."

"Right. Heat Stroke, nice and easy one-oh-one." She leaned back on the bench and threw her arm across the backrest. "Heat injuries to the human body can be tricky because while there are certain symptoms which are 'universal' they can be masked by other things or not detected at all by the patient until it's too late. They're cooked, literally. In Don's case, from what I gather, he had little or no warning before he went –bloop--" She waved a hand. "--Right down on the golf course."

"My brother has a tendency to focus on what is in front of him not necessarily himself."

"So he focuses on the outside, not what's going on inside. Sounds like a cop to me."

Charlie almost smiled. "Yeah, that would be Don."

"What department does he work for?"

"The F.B.I."

Elaine's body shuddered, unrealistically Charlie thought. "Ooh, I'm treating a Feebie? Oh dear, I'll have to scrub before I go home and contaminate the hubby."

Charlie looked at her.

She looked back, daring him to make the connection but he didn't. "Charlie...may I call you that? I'm married to a cop. One you've worked with in the past. I've heard all about the Eppes Brothers and their idiosyncrasies."

Charlie thought, then took a good look at Dr. Donovan-Walker's hospital ID badge. "Donovan-Walker..." And he made the connection. "You're married to Lieutenant Gary Walker?"

"Wow, you really _are_ a genius!"

"And I can tell that bedside manner was not something you excelled in at med school, was it?"

"Actually, I am usually quite good at stroking patient egos and calming worried family members. You and your brother just caught me on a bad night."

"You mean that there are better nights to catch you on?"

"Yeah, like nights when I'm not called in from a planned evening out with my husband." She relaxed a little lower into the bench, almost slouching over sideways in her posture. "Okay, let's get back to why Doc Leporre called me in, shall we?"

"Dr. Leapre? Who?"

"Leporre. The tall stick of a man in the lime green shirt under his lab coat in there who looks like a casting director's dream for Wyatt Earp?" She pointed over her shoulder with a thumb toward the ER.

Charlie thought a moment. "Yeah, I guess I saw him"

"Saw him? He didn't come speak to you after you arrived?"

"No. Why would he?"

She let out a sigh. "Courtesy for one reason...unless he was too busy. Oh well, guess I'll just have to muddle through all this on my own." She dropped her hand from the back of the bench onto Charlie's shoulder. "Not to scare you or cause you more worry, but do you know if there's a history of heart disease or strokes in your family background, Charlie?"

"I don't think so."

"That's all right, not everyone knows his or her genealogical medical history. Anyway, the reason I was called in... When Don was being transported here, his heart displayed something called tachycardia, a sudden increase in, or odd pattern to, his heartbeat. It's not uncommon in heat stroke victims, but due to your brother's age, general physical condition and job...Doc Leporre thought it wise to call in a cardiologist. Me."

"Okay." Charlie said.

"You're following so far?" Dr. Donovan-Walker said.

Charlie nodded. "So arguing with him right now, isn't a good idea?"

"Right on the money, Charlie. I'm not sure the heat injury damaged his heart, but I don't want to take any chances with him. In fact, I'm going to be admitting him for at least 24 hours, to monitor his heart and kidney functions, and depending on what I find, I may keep him longer. I also want to convince him to come see me for a cardio stress test sometime in the near future. And that's where you can come in handy."

"Um...Dr. Donovan-Walker, I'm his younger brother, he's not inclined to listen to much of what I say, especially right now." Charlie said.

"Right at this moment, I'd say you're right. But in the next few weeks or months? Drop a hint here and there, not nagging him, just concerned little brother checking to see if he's seen that nice-doctor-who-married-Lieutenant-Walker type hints."

Charlie almost laughed. "Okay. I could also drop a few hints in front of our dad."

Elaine laughed and said, "Now that's thinking like a sneaky brother!" She shot him a wicked grin. "If those tactics don't work, I could always threaten to sic Gary on him. Though I would rather Don come see me on his own, not be dragged kicking, screaming and handcuffed. Might affect the exam."

Charlie actually smiled and held out his hand again. "Thank you, Dr. Donovan-Walker. Lt. Walker is a lucky man."

"Yeah, he is." She stood up and shoved her hands back in her lab coat's pockets. "Now, I'm going to go in there and give your brother the happy news that I'm keeping him overnight. Will I see you tomorrow when I make rounds?"

"If Don wants to actually be in the same room with me, sure. But, I really hacked him" off."

"Never know until you talk to him - calmly this time." She turned to walk away, only to swing back around. "Oh, and Charlie?"

"Yes, Dr. Donovan-Walker?"

"Donovan-Walker is a mouthful...Try _Elaine_. Night!"

"Good night." Charlie watched her go back into the ER, feeling like he'd just gone three rounds with the budget committee at CalSci.


	7. Chapter 7

Standard Disclaimers in Part One. Same Writers. Same Rating. Feedback welcome!

**Chapter Seven**

Don was beyond bored, but now he was also more than slightly hacked off at Chuck and really wondered where in the hell his little brother got off saying that he, Don, had done this heat exhaustion thing to himself on purpose. His mood after Chuck's bedside visit had taken yet another beating when Doctor Elaine had poked her head in and told him she'd decided to go with the overnight stay option and was arranging for him to be transferred up to the Telemetry Unit as soon as his core temp had dropped back down to normal.

After that, Don just wanted to be left alone and Chris Muldowney, aka Nurse Hawkeye Houlihan, had decided he was behaving himself well enough. So, with the exception of leaving the door open, had indulged Don's request and left him to alone to brood. He kept one eye on the traffic passing to and fro in front of his door, but otherwise thought dark thoughts about Doctor Elaine and her lack of up front information.

A hand appeared at the door, only to rap rapidly on the door jam with the rest of the body following. While it was a familiar face and frame, the man was not wearing his usual dark blue uniform.

"Lieutenant Walker…what brings you down here?" Don asked.

"Eppes. I spotted your brother and Reeves in the lobby when I came to pick up my wife and asked what was going on." Gary Walker approached the bed and helped Don by raising the head of the bed to more natural recline. "I probably shouldn't do this...But as long as you don't dislodge the blankets or I.V.s I should be safe. So, what's this I hear about you trying to cook yourself?"

Don let out a very exasperated, explosive puff of air. "If one more person makes another hint or allegation that I did this to myself on purpose…."

"Hey, hey, relax Eppes. Or you'll undo all of my wife's good work."

Don stared at Gary. "Wife?" He knew the LAPD Lieutenant was married, or had been, as he wore a wedding band, but it never occurred to him that Gary's wife wasn't somehow tied to the law enforcement community.

"I realize I've got a hard-ass reputation, Eppes, but - yes - I have a lovely wife who just happens to work here at Pacifica."

Don actually felt his brain click. "Wait a minute! Doctor Elaine is your _wife_?"

Gary smiled a huge cat-who-got-the-canary grin and nodded. "Yep. I'm still surprised she actually let me catch her and that we've been together for 8 years now."

"Well, Lieutenant, I'm not sure what to say…congratulations, I guess."

"Thanks, Eppes. Now, do me a favor so I can grab Elaine and get out her out of here…Quit fighting her treatment methods or I may have to pit LAPD training against Quantico training."

Don nodded. "You'd lose, ya know?" He reached out and snagged Lieutenant Walker's wrist, "Gary, how in the hell did you end up with such a, I mean, a damn…" He couldn't finish the sentence.

"She is a fine looking woman, ain't she?"

Don shook his head. "Damn, I can't answer that the way I normally would. If I agreed with you, you'd want to hit me for noticing your wife's hot; if I didn't agree, you'd want to hit me for not thinking you've got a fine looking wife."

Gary let out a small chuckle. "Catch-22. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But I don't mind if you noticed Elaine, Don. After all, she's more than capable of taking care of herself." The Lieutenant leaned over in a conspiratorial manner and confessed. "Her father, former Police Commissioner Donovan, made damn sure his little girl could fend off unwanted advances, if'n you know what I mean?"

Now it was Don's turn to let loose with a chortle. "Well, she did say she knew how stubborn cops could be…now I understand why."

The background noise dropped off just then, making Don looked past Gary's shoulder where the Lieutenant's wife was now standing in the doorway.

"Did he figure it out on his own or did you have to prod him, Gary?" She had the familiar chart board in one hand and a plastic cup, which was sweating profusely, in the other. "I brought you a little something to drink, Don." She handed him the cup and he looked down into it to see a grape juice looking fluid with a few chunks of ice floating in it. However, it didn't smell like grape juice.

"Sip it before you loose your nerve, Eppes." Gary teased.

"Easy enough for you to say, it's not your tongue that is about to possibly be assaulted." Don quipped back, taking a firm grip on the cup. He raised it to his lips, sipped, and damn near spit the liquid out all over the white bed linens. He, ultimately, managed to swallow it. Barely. "Uugh! What the hell is that?"

"He's feeling better."

The Walkers announced simultaneously, then Elaine carried on the conversation. "It's grape-flavored Pedialyte. Or, rather, it's supposed to be grape flavored. I've discovered over the years that if a patient likes the taste, he - or she - is still seriously dehydrated and their electrolytes are way out of whack. If they don't like it, they're doing much better and can be moved up to 4th floor."

She glance down at the chart, frowned, then said, "I'll be right back."

Don handed the offensive cup of liquid off to Gary, who placed it on the counter after dumping the contents in a convenient sink. "Can't say as I blame you, Eppes. The first time Elaine pulled that little trick on me, I spewed it all over her nice clean lab coat." He turned back to face Don. "So, I guess you're in for an overnight stay. Want me to ask Pasadena PD to run by your place and pick up a change of clothes for you in the morning? Or I could if you want."

Don waved off the lieutenant's offer. "That's not necessary, Gary. I know that I probably pissed my brother off pretty good earlier, but I doubt Reeves would let him 'forget' to bring me a few things from his place in the morning when I'm finally kicked out of here."

Gary nodded. "Have to say, I've never seen the Professor quite so… _mad_ as he looked earlier. What in the hell did you say to him?"

Don grinned. "I called him by a nickname he's hated since he was a year old." He waited until the proper expression crossed the Lieutenant's face. "I called him 'Chuckleberry'."

Gary let out a huge burst of laughter, which caused Don to start laughing and that's how the nursing assistants found the two of them when they came to transport Don up to the Telemetry Unit on the fourth floor of Pacifica Industrial Hospital.

* * *

Megan had come outside to find Charlie after watching Doctor Donovan-Walker steam back by the waiting area. Lieutenant Gary Walker, the doctor's husband (and wasn't that a surprising revelation!), had stopped on his way into the ER to talk with her before going back to chat up Don and he'd warned her to wait until his wife came back in. Apparently something Charlie had said to Don had caused his blood pressure to spike and now the Cardiologist was thinking a mere overnight stay might not be enough.

So now Megan sat on the edge of a huge planter, watching the frenzied pacing of the brilliant professor. There was something seriously bugging the young man and she was pretty sure she knew what that might be and she was also damn sure she'd have to poke and prod to get him to see what was needling him.

To test her theory, she asked him a leading question. "Charlie, why do you think Alan's always after you and Don to 'settle down' with someone, anyone?"

"Because he's my dad, Megan, and he wants me to be happy. He wants both of us to be happy." The pacing slowed as Charlie responded.

"That's part of it, sure. Why else?" She figured she'd have to goad him into thinking about what was really bothering him and knew she was right when he gave the non-verbal response of a non-committal shoulder shrug. "Hint - it's not all about grandbabies, but that would be nice too. He's worried for both of you. He doesn't want either of you left alone when he finally leaves to be with your mom again. Alan knows how important, and stabilizing a family can be for a man." Megan said.

"But I'm not alone, I've got Amita and Larry and..." Charlie said.

"So why are you so mad at Don?" Poke. Megan thought to herself, realizing there was a very good chance she was going to further tick off an already pissy Charlie.

"He's just so damn _cavalier_! I'm asking him what happened and he's like 'It's no big deal. It could be worse.' It's like he thinks nothing can hurt him." Charlie said.

"That's not true, Charlie. Every time Don, or any of us, walk out of our homes and come into work, we know it could be our last day and there ain't nothing anyone can do to stop it. We learn to cope and just get on with our jobs. We don't let the fear rule our lives."

"There's fear and then there's stupidity. Then there's a total lack of self-preservation." Charlie stopped pacing and turned to face Megan. "And my job doesn't entail being shot at on a regular basis."

"Charlie...part of our training is how to protect the innocent - up to and including the mindset that makes us capable of taking a bullet for a stranger." Megan hadn't talked like this to a family member of an FBI Agent since her last stint at the Academy. Then, it had been an anxious wife of a new graduate who wasn't sure she could cope with her husband's chosen career.

"I know! That's what scares me the most!" Charlie admitted, but Megan didn't let up on the pressure she was applying to what was probably a barely scabbed over mental and emotional wound.

"Don could've easily taken a job with the Secret Service and would probably be in charge of The Detail by now. He's got the kind of mindset that makes him need - NEED, Charlie - to protect others."

"I know. I know all of this. Really, I do." Charlie said as he sat down, heavily, on the edge of the planter next to her.

"You've just never really faced it before, have you?" Megan quietly asked, almost worried that if she spoke too loudly, he'd bolt.

"Faced what?"

"That one day, not too soon - not ever I hope, Don might not be around anymore?"

"Believe it or not, Megan, I have gone over that in my mind, many, many times. But I don't know if Don ever has." She wasn't sure how to categorize his emotional tone, it seemed almost …wistful?

"He has, trust me, Charlie." She reached out and grasped his hands where they were clasped together on his knees. "He worries about you and Alan...a lot...he just won't let that fear rule him. He's working on getting over that...maybe you should too?" It had surprised her when Don admitted to her, over two weeks ago now, that he had taken her advice and was actually talking to William Bradford. Now maybe she could plant a similar idea in the younger Eppes. "There are support groups..." Megan began, but a rather rude snort from Charlie stopped her train of thought.

"Do you have any idea of how many support groups I've been too? After a while, it's the same thing. No one wants to move on, they all want to dwell on their problems. You can't tell me that's healthy." Megan mentally agreed with Charlie's assessment, but the amount of sheer sarcasm in his voice made her realize that most of his experiences with assistance groups were not good ones.

She countered his derision with her own brand of defiance. "Have any of those groups helped you learn how to cope with Don's being a cop and risking his life every day?"

Charlie looked at the ground. "No."

"That's because, like you said, the other support groups aren't geared toward understanding and helping you to learn how to cope. They're more of a place where you can go to bitch and whine." Megan suspected that Charlie would argue the point if she tried to put too much bloom on the support group rose…so she tailored her responses to suit his preconceived notions.

"So? Aren't they all that way?" Charlie said.

Megan shook her head, and let go of his hands. "No. The Family of LEO's Group is about support. Providing a social network to people, like you, who have a member of Law Enforcement in their family and have different methods for coping with the stress that comes with being related to Law Enforcement."

Charlie looked at Megan. "What's it called?"

"I'm not sure what the local chapter calls itself, but come by the office one day soon and I'll have all the information you need." Megan admitted, but if Charlie was serious about checking the group out, she vowed to move heaven and earth to dig up the information.

"Okay." Charlie said, but he didn't sound convinced.

Sharpening the mental prod into a full-blown poker, Megan aimed to give Charlie an 'out' if he wanted one. "I'm not asking you to go the meetings...maybe I'll find one of the local spouses who can give you the low down and, after that, if you want to go you can."

"You know what I would really like?" Megan shook her head, wanting Charlie to lead their conversation. "I would like for him to stop editing out the parts he thinks I can't handle. And I don't mean, the really gory cases but other stuff."

Megan chuckled, "Have you told him that?" It wasn't too difficult to figure out who the 'he' was who dared to edit Charlie's stuff.

"Of course I have, you think he listens?" Charlie made shoo'ing motions with his hands, which was odd since there were no bugs flying about in the unlit area. "He's a cop and my big brother, it all goes in one ear out the other."

Now the motions made sense, he was pantomiming the whole in one ear, out the other thing. Which made perfect sense to her now, having dealt with that aspect of Don's personality herself. "Charlie, your brother is stubborn - you have to repeat things sometimes and make him listen." Megan had a sudden idea and, instinctively reached out and slugged him on the shoulder to grab his attention - just like she would do to Don. Or Granger.

"Hey! What was that for?" Charlie said.

"Sorry about that." She lighted rubbed where she'd smacked him. "I had an idea. Why not play on your experiences with NSA? You've seen messy stuff there, right?" Megan prompted him, knowing there was no way Charlie could, or would, admit to how much 'messy' stuff he'd seen while consulting with the National Security Agency.

"Megan, he's my big brother, it doesn't matter what I've seen." Charlie said. "He looks at me and sees the 3 year-old who did his math homework. I think Jesus Christ could come down and order him to stop and he'd say he would have to think about it."

"Well, I'm not sure about Christ getting him to stop...but have you thought about tag-teaming him? Use that connection you seem to have with Robert Thompson." Megan wheedled and was honest enough with herself to know she was wheedling. She sensed that Charlie was hesitant about contacting the Director of the NSA, but she'd met the man a few times and knew he thought highly of the Cal Sci Professor. So, she did what any good profiler would do…she created a mental scene and tried to sell the goods to her target. "I can just hear Bob Thompson...'Eppes, you like having Charlie help, right? You give him ALL the data in a case, right? You're not? You stupid shit'!" She allowed herself a small smile of victory when her mark let loose with a chortle.

"Ya think Bob could extend that idea beyond the Bureau and into our home lives?" Charlie asked, once he stopped laughing.

"Never know with Bob. Tell me, the stuff that Don tries to shield you from in our cases...would it affect your expressions if you had access?" Megan asked, her curiosity piqued. Sure most of his mathematical pontificating sent her running for the Excedrin bottle, but she knew it worked and if adding the Eppes-Edited Data back into the files Don sent to Charlie would increase the efficiency…She'd go behind her Supervisor's back and add it back in herself.

"It would depend on the stuff." Charlie hedged.

Exasperated, Megan stood and threw her hands up in the air. "You know what, Charlie, if you want full access you're going to have to fight for it. Once you win that battle, you'll probably find Don treating you different outside the office and the cases." She leaned over and put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at her. "Except on holidays and special occasions...then you can pretty much count on him reminding you that you're the Youngest."

Charlie snorted. "Were you the baby of the family, Megan?"

"Yeah, I am. And, yes, my sisters never let me forget it - even though I can kick their butts from one bank of the Potomac to the other and not break a sweat." Megan grinned at the memories of her sisters picking fights with her, then sic'ing their boyfriends on her when she'd resort to physical retaliation.

"And even knowing that, don't they still look at you as the ten year old that won't stopping bugging them?" Charlie asked.

"Of course they do! It's all part of being 'older' than the next sibling in line." Megan admitted. "But there's a side benefit that they'll never have over me."

Charlie grinned. "You'll always be younger than them?"

"Being the baby-of-the-family means I always get the BEST presents." Megan replied over her shoulder as she walked away to leave Charlie alone with his thoughts.


	8. Chapter 8

Standard Disclaimers in Part One. Same Writers. Same Rating. Feedback welcome!

**Chapter Eight**

"Sorry, I...I'm not having a good day." Charlie said in way of an apology to both Megan and Colby as they rode up in the elevator.

Both agents nodded. They knew it wasn't anything personal. At the correct floor, Megan nudged Charlie out of the contraption and into the miasma of hospital odors. "Are you okay?" she asked, seeing the look on Charlie's face.

He nodded. He hated hospitals, he hated the smell, the sounds, he hated everything about them.

"You sure? You're looking a little pale." Colby asked from where he stood, clearly waiting for Megan and he to catch up.

"I'm fine." Charlie said, suddenly not so sure that eating at the hospital had been a good idea.

"Charlie, look at me." Megan ordered even as she gently pulled on his shoulder to get him to comply. "Don's going to be okay. I know his...incident bothered you, but he's going to be okay."

"It's not that, Megan."

"Then what?"

"My mom."

"Oh." Before he knew what was happening, the agent had pulled him into her arms and gave him a fast hug.

Colby, clearly a little unnerved by the public display, moved further down the hall, away from Charlie and Megan.

Megan released him and Charlie caught his breath

"Thanks, Megan. I've just never had good memories associated with hospitals."

"Neither do I, Charlie. The last time I was in a hospital I enlisted Larry's help to leave against medical advice."

Charlie looked at her, his eyes wide. "That was _Larry_?!"

"Trust me. There's a wild side to Fleinhardt."

Charlie's eyes grew even wider. "There are some things I just don't want to know about Larry, really."

"It was my choice, Larry just helped. Now, you ready to go see your brother and not yell at him this time?"

"I'm just never going to live that down, am I?" Charlie said, flushing a most becoming shade of red.

"Not if I can help it." Colby approached from wherever he'd gone off to. "Nurse's aide I spoke to said he's nearly settled in. Once she comes out of the room, we can go in and say goodnight."

"Good night?" Charlie looked down at his watch.

"It's dark outside, right? It's night." Colby responded.

"You are not funny, Granger." Megan said.

"Wasn't trying to be, Reeves." A plump brunette in teal colored scrubs stepped out of room and gestured. "Right," Colby said, "he's settled. Jessica just stepped out."

"Trust you to know her name already, Granger." Megan said, as she lightly thwacked the younger agent on the upper arm.

"Just trying to be thorough."

Colby pushed open the door to room 4205 and walked in.

"Whatever." Megan said, towing Charlie after her.

"Hey, Boss...looking better." Granger was saying as Charlie took in the room his brother was in. Don was the only occupant. He was also looking more and more like himself, if only when he was dog tired.

"Thanks, Granger. I think." Don said.

Megan squeezed Charlie's arm for a moment before going to join Colby at Don's bedside.

Charlie took a deep breath and joined the other two.

"Seriously, Don, you looked like crap when I got here, I can only imagine what you looked like when you did your swan dive." Megan quipped.

"You're all heart, Reeves...no wonder Larry likes you."

"You have no idea." Colby said.

Charlie came around Megan and stood next to her.

"Hey, Charlie..." Don started, but his voice drifted off into nothing as he just stared at Charlie. He had never seen that look particular deer in the headlights look on his brother's face before.

"Megan, Colby... I'll see you two later. Right?" Don said as he threw off the blankets and swung up into a seated position on the edge of the bed.

"You're supposed to be doing that?" Megan asked.

"I don't care. I damn well am going to do it." Don stood up and held an arm out toward Charlie. "Charlie, come here."

Charlie stared at his big brother for a long moment, before coming over to him.

Megan slipped out of the way, tugging on Granger's sleeve.

"You shouldn't be getting out of bed." Charlie muttered.

Granger bought the clue and followed Megan from the room.

"Since when have you known me to do what I'm told.?" Don said.

Charlie almost smiled. "Never."

Don pulled Charlie into a one-arm clasp, then sat back down on the edge of the bed. "Got that right. You okay now?"

And Charlie was. His brother would be okay, really he would. Charlie nodded.

"It's been the day from Hell." Charlie said.

"It's been no picnic on my end either, buddy. However, I learned something new today."

"What?"

"Lieutenant Walker is married. Did you know that?"

"Yeah, I kinda got my butt chewed by her after yelling at you in the ER. She wasn't very happy with me. She's kinda scary, ya know?"

"No need to tell me, she's also got a bit of a nasty streak in her." Don shuddered.

"They're perfect for each other." Charlie added.

"Yeah, I guess Gary and Elaine are well matched, huh?"

Charlie nodded.

"I knew it! I knew I couldn't leave just yet." A now familiar voice came from the doorway.

Don jumped and Charlie spun on his heel to see Elaine Donovan-Walker standing the door way, her arms braced on her hips.

"What?" Charlie snapped. "We were just talking. We weren't arguing."

Heels clacked on the floor as she strode into the room. "Don Eppes you get back in that bed like you're supposed to be!"

Charlie moved out of her way as she approached Don's side. "What is it with you and these damn electrodes?" She reached inside Don's gown and pulled out a loose electropad. "Do I need to superglue these on?"

Charlie gulped. _Did that happen when Don stood up? Great, it probably did. It's my fault. Maybe I should leave_.

"Oh, relax, Charlie...I'm just teasing the two of you." Elaine reached into her lab coat and pulled out a green and white marked package.

Quick efficient hands removed the old electrodes from Don's now exposed chest and were replaced with new ones in less than 60 seconds.

"Not funny, Elaine." Charlie said.

"You're right...but I got your brother here to lie back down, didn't I?"

Charlie looked at the bed and his brother. She was right.

"That's just mean, Elaine." Don pulled the gown closed. "Do you touch Gary with those cold hands of yours?"

"They're not cold when I touch him." Elaine replied in her sweetest voice.

"Okay, okay ... that's more than I, or my little brother, needed to hear!"

"If you can't handle the answers, don't ask the questions, Eppes." Elaine tossed the debris of her electrode replacement routine in the trashcan. "Charlie, ten more minutes here and then you really should let Don get some sleep. Don, behave yourself or I'll be back before I get my morning cup of Joe."

The cardiologist was gone in a flurry of vibrant colors, leaving the two Eppes alone once more.

"I think I'm going to hate her in the morning." Don grumbled.

Charlie went to the door and peered around it. He came back and said, "Where do you think she parks her broomstick?"

Don laughed and said "Oh, that's just...Charlie, you shouldn't...oh, what the hell. Where do you think she parks it?"

"Parking for Witches only -- All others will be toad" Charlie replied, with a totally straight face

Don blinked like a startled owl for a few seconds, then burst into laughter again.

"You wouldn't believe the corny jokes I hear from my students. But that one, I saw on a bumper sticker." Charlie said, happy to make his brother laugh. Hell, he was happy to still have a brother to make laugh.

When Don finally calmed down he looked refreshed. "That is the most I've laughed in three days. Thanks, Charlie."

"You're welcome, just don't tell her, she might cast a spell on me or something." Charlie shuddered.

"I doubt it ...isn't there an old saying about laughter being the best medicine?"

"Yeah. Here's another one. Where does the Easter Bunny go for breakfast?" Charlie asked.

"Charlie...that's beyond corny."

"So, you got an answer Mr. FBI agent?"

"Yeah, I've got an answer for you Mister Math Guy...IHOP."

"Very good!" Charlie said. "Try this one: What's Irish and stays out all night?"

"Are you sure you should be telling jokes like this at school?" Don asked.

"Hey, I get these from the students, okay?"

"Right. Okay, I give up. What's Irish and stays out all night?"

"Patty O'Furniture."

Charlie started to giggle when Don groaned. He sunk further into the bed and pulled the blanket up over his head.

"No more, no more, please, Charlie!"

Charlie made a disapproving noise and said "I haven't even gotten to the cow jokes yet, you big wuss."

* * *

Hearing the noise, Megan came down the hallway and peeked around the door into the room. She watched for a moment, a slow smile spreading across her face, then retreated back to where Colby was waiting. "You aren't going to believe this." she said "But Charlie is cracking bad jokes to make Don laugh. Really, really bad jokes."

"Anything to get Don well, right?" Colby asked as he leaned against a wall, contemplating just staying there, holding up the wall and going to sleep.

Megan eyed Colby for a long moment. He looked almost as bad as Don had when she had first seen him that afternoon. "Are you going to be awake enough to drive back?"

"Maybe." Colby said, a giant yawn splitting his face. "I'm gotta remember where I parked the car when I got here first. Then, we'll need to get back to National's parking lot and get Don's car before they have it hauled off." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Crap, I don't even remember what I did with my car keys." He patted the pockets of his pants and heard an answering jingle. "Ah, there they are."

Megan made a command decision. "You're coming back with me. One of us will have to come back anyway to get Don in the morning." She chewed on her lip for a moment. "It's too late to call National now, isn't it? Call in the morning when you get up. Or you can give me the number and I'll call."

"You know, Colby, you're welcome to crash at my house. There's plenty of room." Charlie said, walking up on the two. He had just been gently shooed from Don's room by the nurse's aide. Don was still chuckling when he left.

Colby turned to see Charlie with a real smile on his face for the first time that evening. "Thanks, Professor, I may just take you up on that."

"Cool. Let's go then. I want to be back here first thing to see what Elaine has planned for Don."

"Elaine? So now you and Don are both on a first name basis with her?" Megan crowed as she led the way to the elevator banks.

"It was her idea. 'Dr. Donovan-Walker is a mouthful.' Charlie said, repeating Elaine's words. 'Call me Elaine, it's easier.'

"That is one smart woman." Colby observed, which earned him a Reeves glare for some reason.

"Among other things." Charlie muttered.

"Huh?" Colby asked.

"Never mind." Charlie said, punching the button to call the elevator to the floor.

"Someone's not tracking anymore. Come on, Sleepy." Megan grabbed one of Colby's arms and physically moved the man into the elevator that had arrived.

Charlie followed them in and looked over at the two agents. "Two or five minutes, Megan?" He asked her wanting an estimate of how long they had before Colby went to sleep on them.

She gazed at him, confused at first then she caught on to where he was looking. "Oh, right. Three minutes."

Colby was slumped against the side of the elevator, his eyes barely open. He stared first at Charlie and then Megan but his eyes weren't focused on either person. "Waddah talk…talk'n about?" He asked semi-coherently.

"Nothing, Colby, let's just get you out to the car, okay?"

"We've just hit critical mass." Charlie murmured

Megan nodded in agreement. Together the two of them managed to get Colby into the back seat of Megan's car before he fell asleep. He was snoring three minutes into the drive from Sun Valley to Pasadena and totally denied being a snorer when awakened in the driveway to the Eppes house. Until Megan played her digital recording.


	9. Chapter 9

Standard Disclaimers in Part One. Same Writers. Same Rating. Feedback welcome!

**Chapter Nine**

"Granger."

_"Agent Granger, this is David Turow at the reception desk on the first floor. There's a man here to see you. He says his name is Steven Cooley."_

Colby's eyebrows went up. "Really? I'll be right there." In one fluid motion, he stood, hung up the phone and grabbed his suit jacket off the back of his chair. He turned and headed for the elevator, spying David Sinclair, another agent on Don's team, just stepping off the elevator. "Come with me," he said to David. "I might need backup."

David didn't say anything and followed Colby back into the elevator where he was filled in on the latest on the Cooley case. "So, basically, you just want me to stand there and look menacing." David said.

"Yeah, I think you can handle that." Colby replied, grinning.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened onto the lobby. The two men stepped off and walked to the reception desk with David stopping just before the desk while Colby continued on to where Steven Cooley was waiting for him. Dressed in a dark blue suit with matching tie, Cooley looked 180 degrees different from the last time Colby had seen him. Of course, Colby looked a bit different himself.

"Agent Granger." Cooley said, holding his hand out.

"Mr. Cooley." Colby replied, shaking his hand. There was something very strange going on. He shot a look at David, then asked, "Is your attorney on his way?"

Cooley snorted. "No. My attorney would have a coronary if he knew where I was." His cell phone started to ring at that exact moment, causing Cooley to smile. "Speak of the devil." He pulled his cell phone from his suit pocket and looked at the display. He shook his head, turned the phone off and put it back in his pocket without answering it. "Can we get this started before I come to my senses or he comes crashing through the door and drags me away?"

"Certainly." Colby said, pointing toward the elevators. "Don is never going to believe this." He muttered to himself.

* * *

After being informed of his rights, Cooley declined to remain to silent. He wanted to talk and how. Colby, with David standing in the back, started the audio recording device, introduced himself and instructed Cooley to do the same.

"Steven Cooley. Investment manager. 6213 Kissing Camel Ln., Los Angeles, CA." Upon seeing the look on Colby's face, he added, "Yeah, it's a strange name for a street but I got a heck of a deal on the house."

"I can see why." David mumbled.

"Okay. Do I just start talking or what?" Cooley asked.

"You can start whenever you want." Colby told him.

Cooley launched into a detailed description of his business and how he had slowly drifted over to the shady side of the stock investment business. When he finished, he took a deep breath and released it. He look at Colby, then at David, then back at Colby. "You've got to be wondering why I'm here confessing all."

Colby did not respond. What could he say?

"My conscience." Cooley said. "Laugh if you want but I'm serious. My conscience got the best of me, which really sucks because I had a real sweet thing going on too." He sighed.

For once in his life, Colby didn't know quite what to say, so he said nothing. Cooley hadn't needed any prompting up to that point.

"Don? The one with heatstroke? Is he your boss?" Cooley asked, seeming to veer completely off his point.

Colby nodded.

"How is he?" Cooley asked.

"He'll be fine, thanks to your assistance." Colby said, certain he was having one of the strangest conversations he would ever have in his entire F.B.I. career.

"Excellent. Glad to hear it. Your boss is why my conscience started bugging me and wouldn't stop." Cooley said. Just that quick, he was back on point. Another sigh came from him. "Usually when my conscience starts in on me, I donate some money or something like that and it goes away. Not this time and I couldn't figure out why. Then…" he waved a hand in the air. "Then it occurred to me; watching your boss nearly drop dead and realizing that I was probably the cause? That's inexcusable. And damn if I can explain why I thought that."

Colby said nothing, waiting for Cooley to, hopefully, continue.

"Now, helping your boss was good but it wasn't enough. I needed to do something else." He shook his head. "You may not believe this but I haven't slept in almost two days and that never EVER happens to me."

Colby flicked a gaze over the man and saw enough to know Cooley wasn't lying.

"I've heard," Cooley said, "that when both an innocent man and a guilty man are brought in by the police and put in a room, the innocent man will be stomping around the room, furious, unable to sit still; however, the guilty man will sit there very calmly, maybe even fall asleep because he knows he's been caught and can finally relax. Is that true? If so, great, I would love to get some sleep."

* * *

Colby and David weren't Cooley's only witnesses. Megan watched from the other side of the one-way glass. Ten minutes into his recitation of wrongdoings, she was joined by Don. She eyed the coffee cup in his hand but said nothing . It was only his second cup of the afternoon. If Don saw her glance, he said nothing.

"Nelson came and got me out of a meeting. How long has he been here?" Don asked.

"Not too long, he started about fifteen minutes ago." Megan told him.

Don sat down on the edge of the nearest table, confusion all over his face. "He just walked in and said 'I confess.'?"

Megan nodded. "He said _you_ were the reason why."

"Me?" Now Don was totally confused. He set his cup of coffee down on the table and crossed his arms, his brow furrowed in thought.

Megan related the story of Cooley's appearance as she knew it and watched Don's expression shift from confusion to triumph.

"I don't believe it." Don shook his head. "Wait, where's his attorney?"

"M.I.A." Megan replied.

A slow grin spread across Don face.

"Don't say it." Megan told him.

"Don't say what?" he asked, innocence personified.

"Don't say, 'Gee, if this is what it took to get him to confess I'd have done it earlier'."

"I wasn't going to say that." Don said, annoyed that Megan had been able to read him so easily.

"Or any variation thereof. If you do, I will be forced to smack you and then tell Charlie."

He eyed her, trying to gauge just how serious she was.

She narrowed her eyes. "You really want to try me, Eppes?"

"All right. I won't say anything." He held up his hands in surrender. "Maybe I'm not the only one who should cut back on the caffeine."

She quirked an eyebrow at him but a knock on the door kept her from responding. "Come in." she said.

Nelson poked his head around the door, looked at Don. "That suspect of yours that I got you out of the meeting for, is his name Cooley?"

Don nodded.

"Well, his attorney is on his way up and he is pissed."

Megan moved toward the door but Don shook his head. "Let me spare you this little bit of fun." He stood up from the table and tossed the coffee cup into the trash and followed Nelson from the room.

Megan almost smiled. Life was slowly returning to what passed as normal for them.

**

* * *

**

_**Epilouge**_

It was not only the end of a long day but the end of a long, weird case. One Colby was more than happy to see come to an end. He slid the last page of his report into the Cooley file, stood up, collected his jacket and dropped the file on Don's desk. He shrugged into his jacket, said his goodbye's to the few remaining agents on the floor and headed for the elevator. If he was lucky and the traffic wasn't horrible, he might just make it home in time to get in a round of golf before the sun went down.

As he was reaching for the elevator call button, the elevator dinged, the doors opened and Alan Eppes, Don's father stepped off. He saw Colby and smiled.

"Mr. Eppes?" Colby asked, surprise coloring his voice. "Don left a couple of hours ago. After what happened, we're trying to get him out the door a little earlier."

Alan's smile widened. "Yes, I know. And boy, has he talked about it. Do you have a minute?"

Mystified but intrigued, Colby nodded. "Sure, follow me." Colby waved a hand toward the floor's break room. "Can I get you something?"

Alan took a seat near the door and shook his head. He opened his mouth to say something, closed it without saying anything, then opened it again. "I came to thank you."

Colby did not respond. He had a pretty good idea what Alan was thanking him for.

"From the moment Don told me he was applying to join the F.B.I., a sense of dread settled into the pit of my stomach and has yet to leave. I was terrified. I didn't want him getting himself hurt, getting himself killed and yet, I wasn't about to stand in his way by voicing my fears to him. So, I did what any good parent would do and kept my mouth shut." Alan folded his fingers together on the table in front of him. "Because I did that, I now know things that I would have never known otherwise."

Colby nodded.

"I know that I made the right decision. Don is very good at what he does and I'm very proud of that. I know that he expects the best from his team and doesn't accept it when they don't deliver."

Colby grinned. "You could say that."

"He gets that from his mother, by the way. I also know that every day he goes to work may be his last, but that his team will move heaven and earth to make sure he comes home at the end of the day and that he would do the exact same thing for them. So, thank you. Thank you for giving me a little peace of mind and letting me sleep a little easier at night. My son is very lucky to have you, all of you, looking out for him."

Colby waited a few moments to see if Alan would say anything else. When he didn't, Colby started to respond only to realize that he didn't know what to say. 'You're welcome, glad I could help' seemed woefully inadequate but he had to try.

"Mr. Eppes, I…I'm honored to work with someone like Don. I've learned a lot from him and I would do whatever I have to to protect him." Colby said, sounding ridiculously stupid to his own ears.

Alan nodded. "I understand. But, please, after all this, call me Alan."

"As long as you call me Colby."

END


End file.
